(197f) Electric Cracking Towers for Decarbonization and Optimization of Ethylene Production

Ethylene is a fundamental building block of the chemical industry¹, with over 150 million tons produced globally in 2021 and demand projected to exceed 255 million tons by 2035. Its list applications expand a wide range of fields including food packaging materials, electronics, medical sterilization, and even textiles.

Despite its benefits, current ethylene production poses a major emissions challenge. About 1.3 tons of CO₂ are released per ton of ethylene¹, making it the second-largest CO₂-emitting process in the chemical industry. If left unchanged, associated CO₂ emissions may exceed 330 Mt by 2035, comparable to the total annual emissions of 72 million cars or a major industrialized nation. This trajectory conflicts directly with global decarbonization efforts like U.S. goals to cut greenhouse gases ~50% below 2005 levels by 2030 and reach net-zero emissions by 2050².

The major source of CO₂ emission in ethylene production is the prevalent use of Flame-heated Tubular Crackers (FTCs) powered by fossil fuel combustion³. In response to this challenge, this research presents the concept of Electric Cracking Towers (ECT), a system to decarbonize ethylene production while offering additional operational advantages⁴.

ECTs employ internal staged electric heating elements along the length of the reactor. This heating strategy enables precise temperature control and eliminates the need of parallel tubes for scaling. Furthermore, by tailoring the amount of heat at each element, ethylene yield can be maximized, while undesired side reaction and hot spots reduced.

Powered by low-carbon electricity, ECTs could reduce the carbon footprint of ethylene production by over 95%. Even using today's U.S. electricity mix, associated CO₂ emissions could be reduced by ~8%. By substituting combustion with electricity, Electric Cracking Tower can help solve ethylene production's carbon problem while allowing optimized production.

References

1. H. Zimmermann and R. Walzl, “Ethylene,” Ullmann’s Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, 2000.

2. J. Kerry and G. Mccarthy, THE LONG-TERM STRATEGY OF THE UNITED STATES. 2021

3. Z. Chen, E. Rodriguez, and R. Agrawal, “Toward carbon neutrality for natural gas liquids valorization from shale gas,” I&EC, vol. 61, no. 12, pp. 4469–4474, 2022.

4. R. Agrawal, Z. Chen, and W. P. Oladipupo, “Electrically Heated Dehydrogenation Process”, U.S. Patent 11,578,019 B2 (2023)